They'll Have to Do
by Mildlydrunk335
Summary: A Gate opens itself up in the middle of the Last City where creatures and men from olden myths and legends pour out wrecking havoc on to the civilian population... for a little while. Unfortunately for them, however, new legends rose to fill the gap and they are not happy of what was done to their fair City. Someone will pay.
1. Chapter 1

Heeyyy. So. This is my first time publishing fanfiction. Not gunna lie, I thought fan fiction was phooey. Why mess with the original source? Then I decided to read some and thought to myself "hey some of this is pretty good!" So I decided to try my hand at it by writing a piece combining my favorite story and my favorite video game. and this is what i came up with. I have some more of it done, but give me some feedback on this ye? I might post the rest. After that I might or might not continue this full on. I'm no good with schedules and deadlines... I don't even have a fleshed out ending. So yeah tell me if this is trash or if i got something worth investing in.

Obvious disclaimer I don't own SHIT. Not Destiny nor Gate Jieitai.

"Human history is filled with strife.

A history of bloodshed, treachery and war. But we learned, slowly.

Each war was more costly, more gruesome than the last. The last few centuries, before It came, where some of the most peaceful times our kind has ever known before. Peaceful being relative, as some of us still waged war against our brothers for the smallest things, the pigment of our skins, the books we held in highest regard. None of that mattered the moment we detected It from the veil of darkness.

We sensed it's pulse. We intercepted It at Mars. A small 3 man team formed from nations once considered bitter rivals. A testament, perhaps a show of unity that whatever we're going to face, we face together as one voice, As one people. They came face to face with It. The Traveler the people called it. A gigantic floating orb, floating right on top of a red desert, a dead planet void of all life or substance, and yet the distinct sound of rain hitting glass was heard. Rain continued to fall on this planet and we knew at that moment, everything was going to change.

The Traveler shared to us her knowledge of the universe. For the next few centuries Earth—no— our entire Solar System entered a Golden Age of exploration, discoveries, and peace that has never been seen before. The great strifes between nations fell as they all united together. Colonies were formed in all the inner planets; Mercury was transformed into a garden world, Venus covered in lush jungles and Mars a crossroad for the intellectuals, a Mecca of science and technology.

But it would not last. For the Traveler had an ancient enemy. The exact shape of it has been lost to time, but we know it as The Darkness, who came to snuff out our light. We fought all we could but it wasn't enough. One by one our most sophisticated weapon systems, the Warminds, fell to ruin. Born to protect Earth, they were no match for the Darkness' onslaught. All was for naught. But the Traveler sacrificed itself and with one final push of Her light, repealed the Darkness back to voids of space. We survived, but broken. Scattered. But in its dying breath the Traveler created the ghosts. To seek out those among the honorable dead that can wield it's Light as a weapon."

The Speaker concludes his speech to the newly risen guardians, a look of utter confusion and lost painted on their face. This time there were 3, perhaps this might lead to the birth of a new fire team. Who knows. I remember the day I was brought back by Nolan. It wasn't easy I'll tell you that. No memories and a small ball of light trying to explain to you that you've been dead for centuries and that you have been chosen to fight some enigmatic God-like entity that hasn't been seen for just as long, but whose minions are still trying to wipe us out. Oh and that you now have the ability to wield some kind of power called the Light and are just as god-like yourself. Yep. Don't worry newborns, you'll get the hang of it soon enough. After all, you have all the time in the world... if you play your cards right of course.

I haven't introduced myself now have I? The names Cam. I'm 7 years old. Well, technically. That's how long ago I got brought back from the dead by Nolan. Nolan is my Ghost, he keeps me in check and breathing. He gets mad if I stop breathing, he's a bit of a worrywart like that. Anyway, yeah technically I'm 7 years old, but my old self was probably born before the Collapse. I don't know who I was in my past life. So depending on how you're askin' it I'm either 7 or at least mayybee 700? 800? It's an inside joke to most guardians, our age. Some of us are pretty young. And some of us are as old as the Last Safe City. Hell some of us helped _build_ The Last Safe City, like Iron Lord Saladin. The Iron Lords are... a reminder to us Guardians. A reminder that our immortality, does not mean our invincibility. All that remains of the Iron Lords is Lord Saladin.

After finally concluding his speech, the Speaker finally directs his attention towards me.

"Oh, how may I be of assistance, Hivebane?"

Guh. Didn't expect Lord Shaxx's nickname for me to catch on. Sigh. "Yes, ah,well here are latest reports from the Vanguard." Damn Cayde got me running his fuckin errands for him, just wait you metal bastard, I'll clean you out for everything you've got this next game.

The Speaker snaps me out of my internal monologue. "Ah, yes this must be more intel about ... Him." I grimace.

Oryx is finally showing his ugly, calcified mug around here. And it's all my fault. I lead the charge against his son, Crota. I, with the guidance of Eris Morn, our residential crazy lady, foiled every plan of the Hive to resurrect their undead Princely God. And it was my team who lead the final raid into their stronghold, killing our way towards his throneworld. And it was my final strike that put an end to him. It was a team effort of course, but Oryx doesn't care. He wants _me_ , and he'll do anything to get his revenge to the amusement of my fireteam.

I begin to try and apologize, "Sir, I can't begin to express my regret for my act-", but the Speaker cuts me off " There is no need to apologize, Guardian. You did us a great favor by removing that Dark blight from our world. This was inevitable. It was either having Crota resurrected to wreak even more havoc or to have Oryx to come finish what he started. We have simply been put between a rock and a hard place. I can only express my sorrow to the Reef."

Aye, the Reef. When Oryx appeared with his massive Dreadnaught, it was the Reef and their queen who lead the first assault. It was... a massacre. With a single blow from the dreadnaught's main weapon everything in close proximity was toast. Including a majority of the hives main forces. The Reef gave us an opening with that one. A costly one, but who are we to look at a gift horse in the mouth?

With that small opening Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 and I came up with a ludicrous plan to get me onto the dreadnaught. Was it dumb? Yes. Was grand theft auto committed?...Maybe. Was it dangerous? No doubt about it. One wrong move and I would have been thrall chow. Against All Odds, I was able to secure a Transmat zone... and an ass chewing from Commander Zavala. Sigh. The man's a stick in the mud for rules. Gotta admire him for that.

"Very well then Guardian, I'll read over these. Thank you for your service." And with that the Speaker wanders back to his study and I depart for a drink down in the Hunter's Tavern. I've been "grounded" so to speak from any bounty or mission for a week. Can't work for a week? Can't get paid for a week. Thankfully my pockets have been lined nicely with glimmer. Cayde's glimmer. Can't wait till I clean him out for everything he's got. Soon. 'Vanguard sanctioned mission' my ass.

As I'm passing through the main plaza, a few Guardians were playing a game of football.

"Oye, pass it here!" a Titan yells.

"Heads up," an exo warlock replies.

The exo girl gives a long shot and the titan with all his might headbutts it toward the makeshift goal post between the bank kiosks... and over the tower railing.

"Oh , haha, whoops," the titan's only reply was.

There was a small pause.

"I'll get it!" an Awoken hunter said as he..jumped over the railing... I keep walking. Until one of my fireteam members crashes into me.

"Cam, thank the Traveler! Ikora wants to see you _now_." Esfira was an Awoken Warlock with violet short hair. in a weird spikey bun. A lot of Awokens have bright differently colored hair to what's usually considered normal for regular humans. I was a newborn then, and didn't know much about anything. She came up to me asking if I'd help her with a bounty. She was also a newborn in the Light having only a few months head start on me. I asked her if she dyed her hair. She asked me if I knew what my insides looked like first hand. I did unfortunately, but I wasn't going for a more detailed study of them. I, not knowing anyone, decided to help her with her mission for half of the spoils of course. It was a simple mission really, take down a fallen captain who's been getting a little too big for his britches up in Venus. After that clean up I was already heading back to the tower to collect the bounty until she stopped me.

"WAIT. Look Look Look. we make a great team right? Let's form a fireteam!" I once again, not knowing much about anything decided to go along with it. And thus, Fireteam Morningstar was born.

"Woah, woah hold Es, what's going down?" Es isn't usually the one to panic, she's a Warlock afterall, people around _her_ should panic.

"I'll tell you all about it, but follow me back to the Hall of Guardians." I comply and we make our way toward the Vanguard representative's table. I look around, everyone seems very solemn. Usually it's no big deal, big threats pop in and out all the time, but when _every big name bastard is standing around with scared and gloomy faces something isn't right._ Executive Hideo from New Monarchy, Arach Jalaal from Dead Orbit, boss lady herself Lakshmi-2 from the Future War Cult and a new face? I know this guy... ohhhh right right right General Hazama from the FOTC. Non-Guardian? Oh. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. What the hell is going on that they suspect that not even the Guardians won't be able to handle without backup?

Ikora is the first to speak, "Evening Hunter Cam, I know you still are under house arrest for your latest stunt, but as of today your punishment has officially been lifted."

I look around puzzled. "I'm rather grateful for that, but may I ask why?"

Zavala looks to meet my gaze, "Guardian, after having been around for only 7 years you have accomplished various feats that no other Guardian have been able to accomplished in such a short of time. From killing the Winter Kell to destroying the Heart of the Black Garden to finally putting Crota to rest and most recently helping mend our weak relationship with the Reef and their Queen by capturing and executing the leader of the House Of Wolves rebellion, Skolas, the self proclaimed 'Kell of Kells'. It's only fitting that we allow you to join this discussion, Ikora if you would please."

Ikora, gives a sight nod and proceeds to wave her hand over the table. A large 3D projection of the City appears in front of us. In the center of the city appears to be some kind of disturbance, like a raindrop hitting water. The waves fluctuates in strength as the waves spread out farther and farther from the Core.

"What is this?" I inquired.

Ikora Continues, "no less than 30 minutes ago Warlocks across the City have detected strange energy patterns across the land. As of now they are all focused right in middle of the most densely packed part of the City. Almost as if someone is trying to create a bridge between space."

A flanged voice in the back pipes up, the last member of my fireteam, Titan Yari-4, "do we know what it could be? Vex?"

Ikora shakes her head, "Vex cannot teleport travel to where they have not constructed their gates and portals. It's not Hive either, they can't pierce the veil of light surrounding the Traveler. The Fallen are too scattered and in disarray to try anything and the Cabal have recently lost a large portion of their troops to Oryx and have dedicated all power to combat the threat."

Zavala speaks again, "right now I have already given the order to evacuate the Core. FOTC and other Guardians are already actively clearing out the area in case things turn for the worse." I look to my superiors and I noticed something missing, or _someone_ missing.

I raise my hand. "Where's Cayde?". I inquired. Zavala let out a deep sigh. "I sent out a message to him, but he hasn't responded back. We are in the middle of a dire emergency and he decides to go dark. He's most likely holed away in a dark room, gambling to his heart's content."

Somewhere near the outer Core: Last City

"That was delicious Tony, I'll come by again soon," Cayde said as he began to get up from his seat.

"Mmm thank you Cayde-san I will always welcome your patronage," Tony Ueno said with a bow.

"I've told you before Tony, my name is Cayde-6! Who is this Cayde-san person?" Tony laughs, "san means Mr. in the old language of my people. Instead of putting it as prefix it was put as a suffix."

"Well Tony-san I gotta run, got some debts to collect...so I can pay off one big debt."

Tony laughed, "you have to play smart Cayde-san. Sayonara!"

Cayde-6 merely snapped his finger into a gun shape, " Haha! Shamalamadingdong right back atcha!" Cayde-6 walked out onto the busy street. As he left Tony took a look at the empty bowl, taking it over to the sink and thought to himself, w _here does all that food go? Do Exos ...?Do Exos even have taste buds? Does a Guardian even have to eat, since they're immortal?_ Tony merely shrugged. Cayde was a frequent guest. It would be too rude to ask him these question, so he simply began to wash the plates and bowls that had started piling up.

Cayde-6 walks out into the streets and immediately notices something wrong. People were flooding the streets heading away from the Core of the City. The FOTC were out guiding people away from the center and he saw a couple of his guys in full gear too. _Well that's odd, why are there Guardians out in their armor this deep in the City? What's the FOTC doing leading the people away from the center?_ He noticed a Guardian making motion singles away from the Core. Telling from his armor he probably was no older than a few months maybe. Well, armor isn't the best indication of age, thinking back to the Hivebane.

He yelled out to him since the was a sea of people between him and the young Guardian on the other side of the street, "HEY BUDDY WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

The young Guardian swiveled his toward the voice,"CAYDE-6?! UM, WE DON'T KNOW, SIR. THERE WAS AN ORDER PUT OUT ON ALL TOWER CHANNELS TO HELP EVAC THE CORE, SOMETHING FUNKY IS GOING ON DOWN THERE. YOU DIDN'T GET MESSAGE?"

 _Damn, Tony's radio died and hasn't fixed it yet and I told my Ghost to block all incoming messages from Zavala._ "Ghost! What I've missed?" Cayde called out to his Ghost.

The Ghost appeared over his outstretched hand, " I told you it would be a bad idea to block all messages, well what's done is done, but we've missed 3 messages From Zavala...He's not happy."

Cayde-6 groaned, "when is Zavala ever happy? What's the first message?"

The ghost bobbed his body, "he wants us back in the tower to help coordinate our defenses and help guide the rest of the Guardians on what to do."

Cayde-6 nodded, "yeah I suspected as much... alright! How about we not do that?"

The ghost merely shook his eye in disapproving, "ah Cayde..."

"Right then, let's go see what's going on near the Core shall we?" Before he head out he poked his head into Tony's Spicy Ramen Shop. "HEY TONY YOU SHOULD PROBABLY LEAVE THE STORE SOMETHINGS GOING ON AND IT MIGHT BE DANGEROUS." Tony looked over to Cayde and nodded.

Cayde once again walked out onto the streets and begins walking toward the Coreof the City against the current of the evacuating civilians. Suddenly, he heard the screeches of what he thought was a large bird, only to look up and see not feathers and beaks, but scales and maws.

Cayde-6 looked up in horror, "Ahamkara? Inside the City?!"

His Ghost looked up and scanned the being as moved away, "Cayde, that wasn't an Ahamkara."

"Then what in the world was..." his line of thoughts cut short when the sea of people moving away began to _run away._ People began to yell and scream making it all the more difficult for Cayde-6 to swim upward against the stream of fleeing people. Shots heard off into the distance, The roars of the flying beasts which he could only believe to be true dragons of old Earth's myths began to swoop down into the already panicked crowd.

"Oh no you don't! Not on my watch you oversized battadactyl!" Cayde-6 quickly took out his trusty signature handcannon and began to unload on to dragon. The beast gave a mighty roar and looked around to where his assailant was.

The soldier on top of the beast noticed first the small metallic man on the ground pointing some kind of small wand at him. _Men of metal_ he thought to himself. What an odd world he has found himself in. Towers higher than anything in his world and a moon way too close to the Earth. No matter, he had a job to do and this man of metal was hitting his wyvern with some very powerful magic, enough to cause it pain.

 _He must be a very powerful magician, perhaps that's why he's of metal, he sacrificed his body in exchange of undying metal. I need to take him out quick, he could prove to be a grave threat down the way. Who knows I might get a promotion out of this,_ he thought slyly _._ He reined his beast up and guided it back down as he lined his lance toward the magician, but the metal man was not there anymore.

He heard a loud BOOM to his right and saw the metal man right on top of the roof of the building, point his wand at him. He pulled back on the reins but to no avail. Whatever the magician did had blown the brains right out of his wyvern. The last thing he saw was the bright light of the black metal wand.

"Ha, I guess they've never fought someone with the ability to Blink." Cayde said with satisfaction.

"Cayde, everyone knows how to blink," Cayde-6's ghost chimed in.

"Not what... nevermind patch me in to Zavala. I need to speak to him."

Back in the the Hall of Guardians reports were handed over and orders were dished out.

"Fireteam Morningstar, Feonix Zero,and... and Fireteam 'The Bad Guys Don't Care About What We Call Ourselves Do They'...sigh, head down to the Core as ground support. Fireteam Black Dust,and Ahamkara Bones, you'll be air support. I don't want anything flying in our City's air if it's not flying City colors. I already sent the notice for more ground and air support so don't believe it'll only be FOTC out there. They are doing the best they can along with the small amount of Guardians who've already found themselves in the middle of the chaos on their off day. We've also sent out the signal to turn all frames in the city to 'war' mode. Now you've got your orders go."

Zavala's Ghost speaks up, "Zavala, We have a message from Cayde-6."

Zavala turns to his Ghost, "hmph. He took his sweet time. Patch him through if you would please." The ghost began to tune itself to Cayde-6's signal.


	2. Chapter 2 What is DnD?

**Sup! Here's chapter 2! Hope ya'll like it. A few concerns popped up for me however, regarding the scale and size of the population of the Last City. Obviously I wouldn't know how to scale a prison population to an unknown population so from what I've seen from the size of the Last City... let's say around maybe a million people? The only country I was able to find that had a population anywhere near that much was Cyprus so I kinda based the City's prison pop to theirs. Which is really low to be honest. Well for an American like me it is. Haha... well regardless please enjoy! Or not. And write about how I wasted your time ( I promise more action will be on the way be kind to me).**

 **Once again I don't have anything worthwhile to my name, not Destiny or Gate Jieitai**

"Zavala hey, sorry I missed your calls I was enjoying some ramen, let me take you out sometime it's great stuff let me tell you..." Zavala cuts him short.

"Cayde you are a Vanguard Representative to the Hunter Class and I need you available at all times for moments exactly like this! Please take your duties seriously!"

"Relax Zavala I'm doing very responsible things right now. Like skinning this fucking dragon I just took down so that people won't cut themselves on it, the scales are so sharp and _shiny_." Cayde-6 said dismissively.

"Dragon?! Those must've been the flying targets we heard from the FOTC men near Ground Zero." Zavala pondered for a moment.

"Cayde, are you positive it's not an Ahamkara?" Ikora chimed in.

"No, Ahamkara's are covered in feathers and are smart enough to avoid having their brains blown out in the first 5 minutes of combat. This thing looks like a crocodile with wings except you know, larger scales, larger teeth and larger claws. They also seem to have riders, like horse riders. Except dragon riders." Cayde-6 replied back still cutting through the tough dragonhide. _This'll make some sweet light armor._

"Regardless, Cayde, we need you here so that we may discuss this matter further, I've already sent the appropriate amount of reinforcement. Come back to the tower."

Cayde sighed, "Alright Zavala I'll be there in a second."

"Good," Zavala answered and closed the line.

Cayde looked around him. The FOTC foot soldiers around him started to move against the current of the evacuating people below. There wasn't as many people as there were earlier, it was startling to slow down, trickle. Then, it came. Soldiers in full roman armor regalia on foot or on horse began charging, coming from around the corner. The FOTC did their best with suppression fire and they did a pretty decent job at holding down the line, but there were too many coming their way and they were closing the gap _fast_.

A young FOTC soldier, barely old enough to shave his face was wrestling with his jammed rifle. That was enough to give the enemy an opening and a lone soldier rushed through the hail of bullets with an almost religious zeal screaming at the top of his voice.

 _Oh no_ thought Cayde-6, he was halfway through with drawing his gun when another man seemly coming from nowhere tackled the enemy soldier to the ground and in one swift move disarmed him and stabbed him right in the chest with his own weapon. Cayde-6 look on with wide eyes. _Huh,_ Cayde mused to himself, _The FOTC aren't as green as I thought._

A few blocks away from Tony's Ramen Shop at the the only convention center in the City

All that Itami Youji wanted was to go to the comic book fair and buy his favorite books. In these troubling times it's best not to think too much about the news and about the rumors. Comic books and various forms of literature of the same nature were something that provided a much needed distraction from the troubling woes of the world. Worlds? City? Well, no matter who's woes, Itami was sure as hell not getting his comics, all thanks to these renaissance assholes.

Everyone in the building was instructed to leave and to drop everything. Itami wasn't even a foot inside the door when everyone was already shoving their way out. He was heading toward downtown, away from the Core when he saw some of his fellow comrades from the FOTC in full on gear.

 _Something big is going on, should I go and help?_ Itami groaned. He hated work and would avoid it whenever he could, but he also hated being yelled at by his superiors. He looked above at the God in a coma.

 _Traveler, give me the strength of a Titan._ He made the decision to head toward HQ. Up ahead he saw another fellow soldier, but with a distinct look in his eyes, as if he was frozen in the moment, Itami looked to where the FOTC grunt was looking at, a Gate soldier rushing towards him with an iron sword.

 _Move you fool! You got a gun, he has a sword!_ Itami ran with all his might and rammed the soldier to the ground. What happened next was the culmination of years of extreme training under the very strict and watchful eye of his drill sergeant. In less than 30 seconds it was over. Itami had twisted the sword out of the soldier's hands and plunged it right into his heart. Itami looked up to the still wide eyed soldier.

"Are you alright? You gotta be more careful, this isn't training anymore. You really could've died." Itami said in a stern voice.

Before the young soldier was able to answer a blue figure popped up next to them. "Well I wouldn't be too sure about that, I was watching from up top of that building. Oh and by the way, nice tackle. That would've made any Titan proud the way you took down this goof." Cayde-6 said pointing towards the dead foreign soldier.

Itami looked to where the voice was and his eyes widened. Cayde-6 Hunter Representative of the Vanguard was standing right infront of him. Itami was about to speak, but Cayde-6 raised a single finger and materialized an auto rifle in his other hand.

"Take this rifle and kill any son of a bitch that dares raise their hand against the City, help secure and protect the people, understood?" Itami took the weapon and looked Cayde right in his glowing blue eyes and gave a quick nod.

"Good, I got business to take care of, and you!" Cayde-6 pointed to the young lad still sitting on his ass on the road. "Greeny, close your mouth, flies and all kinds of nasty things like to find their way in there." The young boy gave quick rapid nods, as he was too tongue tied to say anything.

"We need help over here!" 3 FOTC soldiers were killing every enemy soldier or otherworldly creature that was coming down the street, but it wasn't enough, they were pouring out in larger numbers and they weren't able to keep up. Cayde- 6 looked to his back, coming from the opposite way was re-enforcement, More FOTC soldiers, battle frames and a few Guardians were making their way up the street.

Itami yelled to the soldiers, "Back up coming behind us, friendlies on their way!" A few cheers were heard as the soldiers retreated back a few steps to their fellow soldiers and lined up against the street.

"Ghost, get me my ship, this section is in safe hands. The City's finest can take it from here." A wave of cheers were given by the soldiers, eager to live up to Cayde-6's words. Cayde-6 gave a final approving nod to Itami before disappearing into his ship.

 _In the Hall of the Guardians_

The FOTC is the only non-Guardian force in the city. They do everything that didn't need the overwhelming strength of a Guardian. They help out Titans defend the wall, act as the City's police force, taking care of small time criminals and ruffians within the walls. Although they might not see action outside the walls, every FOTC officer is trained like a soldier ready for war, ever since the Battle of Twilight Gap, which proved that Guardians and frames simply weren't enough, if the Reef didn't stop the House of Wolves from reaching The Last City, she would've surely Fallen. Lord Shaxx was the first to call for a more militarized FOTC and to do so he called upon veteran Guardians to help shape up a new generation of FOTC soldiers. It became popular for FOTC soldiers to brag about which Guardian was their drill sergeant.

General Hazama looked around the Hall of the Guardians. He was called upon by the Vanguard Representatives, seeing that it was his men who first reported the enemy in the center of the City, and it was mostly his men helping out with evacuation and defense. He smiled to himself, _Can't let the Guardians have all the glory, got to leave some for us simple mortal men too._

"General Hazama, can you cross reference these reports?", it was a calm collected female voice, something that helped put the mind at ease in the midst of the chaos outside.

"Yes Representative Ikora, these reports from your Guardians match these from my men, all the main streets from the center are being effectively blocked off by FOTC, frames, and various the scattered Guardians. Unfortunately, some of the enemy forces are making their way through the small obscure narrow streets, but my men are doing the best they can doing clean up. As of right now we're rather thinned out. I've already sent the order for all FOTC on rest to suit up, so back up should be on the way."

Zavala nodded, "Indeed, a shame that these... _otherworlders_ caught us off guard, and in the middle of our war with the Taken, but we can't afford to call back Guardians back from hunting down those abominations."

"Not unless we want their forces to grow, for every one Taken destroyed, Oryx replaces with two. The best we can do now is simply slow them down," a dark ominous voice came from the corner, a single glowing green orb growing closer, as a feminine figure stepped into the artificial light hanging above.

General Hazama had an...uneasy feeling about the woman approaching the table . Her eyes were bandaged up with black...tears? Pouring down from underneath.

Hazama swallowed, "I understand the difficult situation Ms. Morn, you don't have to tell me."

Hazama, being a high ranking military official despite not being a Guardian, was allowed full access to all reports Guardians bring in from beyond the walls. That's how he learned of the Taken threat. After reading the reports he would wake up from time to time with cold sweats after having nightmares of being Taken. Hazama tried to lighten the mood.

"Reminds me of the rabbit problem old Earth use to have before it all went down." Hazama said with a light chuckle.

There were plenty of documentaries and films that survived the collapse, and Hazama likes to consider himself a history buff thanks to them.

Eris Morn face curled, "rabbits? How could rabbits have anything to do with the serious and grave threat that Oryx and his Taken army pose?"

Hazama shifted his weight nervously, " Well, before the Traveler arrived, Old Australia had an out of control problem with an invasive species known as rabbits, rabbits, I...I don't know if you know, breed rapidly and plentifully and at an incredible pace and ate a lot of the local flora and farmed vegetables. So much so that they almost destroyed the very delicate balance in the eco system if it wasn't for serious and drastic measures being put into place, very much so with the problem we're facing right now."

Eris paused for a moment, "yes, I guess you could say that, after all in the end it is a nasty vermin problem we're facing."

"Score one for Eris, creeping out our young General so early in the day, bravo!" Cayde-6 comes down the stairs and walks toward his side of the table. "Alright, tell me what we're up against, give me some names, numbers. What's the plan?"

Zavala looked at him, "you're late, but I've gotten word from our general here that you helped with suppression fire up north of center until backup arrived, good work."

"Ha, well well, getting praises from Zavala? I'm starting to like you General," Cayde-6 said cheerfully.

Zavala merely coughed getting everyone's attention, "now we can start this meeting in earnest. There is still much we do not know of our enemy, but we do know they are severely less advanced than we are. General Hazama will fill us all with what his men are reporting in. General Hazama if you'd please."

General Hazama moved to the front of the table, "thank you Commander, from the various reports brought in by the Guardians close to the gate at the moment of the breach, we now know the enemy pouring from the wound at the very center of the Core are human and appear to possess the technological level of the Pre-Golden age era that was referred to as the Medieval age. They do not possess firearms, vehicles or even basic long distance communication. They rely on horses and carriages for transportation and their steel plate armor is no match for even the weakest firearm. Their long distance weapon however, the bow and arrow, has proven to be somewhat of a challenge, and is very dangerous and deadly against unarmed civilians. Regardless of our efforts to evacuate the Center, we were not able to save everyone. Estimates of civilian casualties are to be around 200-300. We have not received word of any FOTC casualties, but plenty of injured. The only advantage this opposing army has is their numbers, which continous to grow as more pour out from the gate."

There was a pause, 200-300 civilians dead? There hasn't been that many innocents taken since the Fallen Invasion.

Arach Jalaal was the first to speak up. "We must leave here! If an enemy force this weak can slip by and attack us at our very heart, how long till a stronger and more capable army does the same?!"

Ikora was the one to address Jalaal, "the Guardians and the FOTC are handling this, and the Warlocks already have plans to study the Gate to better understand how it works. Whatever threat the City faces we will deal with it."

Executive Hideo also spoke up, "don't try to use the dead to promote your faction Jalaal, don't disrespect them like that. I won't stand for it!"

Jalaal looked to him with venom in his eyes, " we wouldn't have any dead if you all would've just _listened to us._ We could have devoted the entirety of the City's resources to a large grand fleet so that we could've finally left this... _Dead Orbit."_

Hideo started again, "and how many would have died fleeing? That is the talk of cowards and I'll be...!" At that moment Lakshmi-2 stopped Executive Hideo in the right middle of his rant.

"Gentlemen, war and death are a constant in all timelines, in all universes. They follow wherever you go. It is not something that can be out runned. For now let us focus at the battle in front of us, and the war that will surely come from it." Lakshmi-2 said with a nod.

General Hazama spoke once more. This was no time for bickering. "Regardless for right now, like Commander Zavala said earlier, we should focus on directing the boots on the ground."

General Hazama motioned to the Hologram map. "May I?"

Ikora nodded, "it's all yours General."

"Wait hold on this is _my map,"_ Cayde-6 protested. "On that note, go ahead young General!"

 _I'm not that young_ , the general thought to himself. But compared to a good majority of the people within the room he might as well be a child.

Ikora merely rolled her eyes. "This is no time to be playing power games, Cayde."

"I'm not playing games. This is my map. My map. I say who gets to use it and I say the General may use my map." Cayde-6 emphasizing by placing a single finger on the table.

"Well, uh, thank you Representative Cayde-6," general Hazama begins to move around the hologram and placing points in various sections and highlighting different districts.

"Right here, in this red zone is where the main forces of the enemy is. It's a large wide circle coming all the way from the very Core of the City to here," Hazama pointed towards where the red circle ends, "encompassing everything in between. We had a few FOTC soldiers and a few Guardians here before the breach, but we didn't know what exactly what we were preparing for. Live and painfully learn as my father would say... this yellow zone," Hazama now pointing towards a marginally thinner outer yellow circle surrounding the inner red circle, "is where our forces meets theirs. The good news is that with every new wave of reinforcement we are able to push back the red zone and the yellow zone and therefore increasing the green 'safe' area."

Cayde-6 noticed something weird about the map. Small flashing red dots popping in and out around the yellow and near the edge of the green zones. "What are these red dots, boss?"

Zavala flashed him a look, "please address the general by his proper rank, Cayde."

"It's quite alright Commander. The red are the flying targets, from what I've heard you've already had a bit of a run in with them, yes? They are being sensor monitored. Anything not marked as a City ship flying within the City is marked red. Turns out those 'dragons' are large enough to trip the sensors. The reason why they're blinking is because they're being shot down. Most likely by the Guardian squad sent out by Zavala before you came or by the City's own anti aircraft defense system."

Before anyone could ask another question a bespectacled man came through and whispered something to the general and handed him over a glass tablet. Hazama nodded, "thank you lieutenant Yanagida."

Commander Zavala spoke up, "more intel?"

General Hazama nodded and placed the glass tablet on a docking station and pulled up several bipedal humanoid holograms.

"More information on the enemy, it seems to be an army mixed with various different intelligent species. These creatures range from half the size of an average human male to approximately the size of a Cabal centurion, maybe even as big as a Vex minotaur." General Hazama stared at the images in front of him and it vaguely reminded him of something...

"Those look a lot like ogres, orcs and goblins," Cayde-6 blurted out.

"Ogres don't have 'eyes', and don't wear a loincloth. I also don't see a Vex goblin in this line up either," Ikora affirmed.

"No no no that's not what I meant! General, you're with me right? Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Anyone? Those Pre-Golden Age films and literature we all probably saw and read? We call our enemies after things we use to fear. The Hive don't call the Ogres 'Ogres' and the Vex probably don't even have names for their little robot soldiers, but we call them 'Goblins', 'Hobgoblins' and 'Minotaurs' after monsters of our ancient mythos. Well, here they are! The original goblins, hobgoblins and ogres! This is vanilla DnD right here!" Cayde-6 exclaimed excitingly.

"Do you expect me to believe that Earth's ancient myths and legends are pouring into our City?" Zavala asked skeptically.

Ikora thought for a moment. "No he might be onto something."

"Thank you!" Cayde exclaimed.

Ikora continued, "that would explain their primitive weapons and the fact that they are human... what if early humans weren't simply creating stories to scare their children to go to bed? What if they were truly retelling the things they truly saw? Every story has a grain of truth after all. The gate obviously leads to somewhere not on Earth, no settlement could survive a Fallen attack with only swords and bows."

Zavala thought for a moment, "that would mean that a gate has already opened before in Earth's history. That would be plausible..." Zavala trailed off.

Ikora paced back and forth, "we simply do not have enough information." Ikora raised her eyes to meet the general's. "General Hazama, could you issue an order for your men to take prisoners? We will need as many as we can for interrogation. The more dressed up the better."

Commander Zavala turned towards Ikora, "prisoners? Do we even have enough space for prisoners?"

"Yeah, I'm wondering about that, too. Guardians aren't the one to take prisoners, the few they bring in always end up causing problems. Heh, remember when that one member of fireteam The Bad Guy Don't Care What We Call Ourselves brought in those 3 Cabal soldiers?" Cayde-6 reminisced.

"Right now the prisons are rather empty, we could possibly stuff around 8,100 prisoners of the 9,000 cells we have." General Hazama confirmed. Thanks to the high level of education provided by the City, crime rates are rather low even in the poorest areas. It also helps to spread the rumor that thieves are automatically kick out into the wild beyond the safety of the wall. That's not to say crimes don't happen, the occasional domestic violence, murders and pickpocketing are rare, but not outside the realm of possibility. _Even when there are so few of us,_ thought Hazama.

"4,000 will do," Ikora confirmed.

General Hazama nodded. "Lieutenant Yanagida, give out the order to all FOTC soldiers to take as many prisoners, and in pristine condition if possible."

"Yes sir," Lieutenant Yanagida said with a salute and began issuing orders into the mic on his shirt.

Ikora began to do the same and asked her Ghost to send the message to all Guardians in the City.

Zavala walked away from the table and looked out the window. This war will be different from the one he's fought in. There was no discussing with the Fallen, Hive, Vex or even the Cabal. These were humans, people. Would he be able to broker for peace? As much as he wanted justice for the innocent lost he would rather have this end quickly so that he could devote himself to the real threat that looms within the rings of Saturn. _Oryx must be dealt with quickly. We do not have the luxury of time or distractions._ Perhaps with the help of the young general the burden could be shared.

 _Lord Shaxx is right, we need more leadership in the non-Guardian population._ Zavala looked backed to Hazama sending out orders and monitoring the defense lines. _I hope the fires of this ordeal temper you, so that you will be able to help forge a new age of warriors._


	3. Concrete Jungle

**Hey ya'll! It has been a minute! Or two... Or perhaps it was an entire month... HAHAHAHA WHO KNOWS RIGHT? Not me. Anyway, here's chapter three. This is extremely beta so there might be some selling errors. Heh. Also I promised a few of you guys that this chapter would be twice as longer than the other two. I lied. I'm a filthy liar. Sooo. There's that. Granted, this is a bit longer than the last one i think by a little bit. So you're welcome. Once again I ask you all for your criticism. Also don't expect much this month, I gotta concentrate on my school work. Also side note Cam's favorite Pre-Collapse band is CCR which he especially rocks out to when he's wearing his Bog Wild armor and waist deep in swamp.** _ **Born on the Baayouu!**_ **We shall touch on that later along with everyone else's musical taste which has no relevance to the main story.**

 **I do not own any CCR music, Destiny or Gate Jieitai (DID YOU GUYS HEAR ABOUT THE NEW NOVEL COMING OUT OR MAY ALREADY BE OUT?! THE FUCKING NAVY CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? HOW AM I GOING TO ADAPT THAT TO THIS? DOES THE CITY EVEN HAVE A NAVY? ANY NAVAL SHIPS? BUNGIE, PLS ANSWER. Well I could just replace it with...well we shall see)**

"Why are we in your ship?" I mumbled behind my hooded cloak. We were strapped up in the cargo hold of Yari-4's ship _Ketch Me if You Can_ heading towards the Core. Despite myself I couldn't help but admire the man's impeccable naming skills.

"It was the closest one, you're always telling us time is valuable," Yari-4 replied back.

"Fair enough right cap-," Esfira couldn't complete her sentence as the ship a quick sharp shake.

I squinted my eyes and looked around and called out to our pilot, "what was that?"

"Road kill," Yari simply replied back.

"Ah," was our only response.

"Sir, approaching yellow zone, _sir!"_ Yari-4's ghost announced as he popped out.

"Thanks, Mattis," Yari-4 said. Yari-4 looked back to us,"you heard him ladies and gents, last stop." Yari removed his harness and began moving toward the cargo bay.

"About fucking time. Your driving skills are atrocious," I bellyached. I began to unlatch my seatbelt as we closed in on the battle zone.

"I won't dispute that assessment," Esfira affirmed as she too began to unbuckle herself.

"Mattis, set her to autopilot and set destination to the tower," Yari ordered.

"Sir, setting _Ketch Me if You Can_ destination to the tower on your orders, _sir!"_ The little green ghost bobbed an affirmative nod.

I looked over to Yari and his ghost. "Dependable ghost you got there," I said with a smirk.

"Sir, you honor me greatly, _sir!"_ Mattis announced proudly.

"Why don't you call me 'sir?'" I said pouting, obviously talking to a certain unseeable red little spike ball.

A bright glowing orb came into existence, hovering over my right shoulder. "Because I won't and that will just have to do," Nolan said and subsequently disappeared once more. _Tsk._

"Cam, the button to the door is to your right," Yari said.

I nodded his way and pressed the red button. The yellow siren light tripped, signalling the back cargo door being opened. The smell spread through the jumpship. The smoke. I looked out as the door hatch began to fully open. The quiet stillness of the city in front of me betrayed the chaos of what was still hidden to us, but the closer we got the more distinct the sounds of gun shots became.

Esfira began to stretch,"mmm, well then. Shall we?" She began making the motion to...

"Wait Es, no don't-!"

Too late. Esfira had summoned her sparrow right in the cargo bay, knocking me against the wall and Yari on his ass.

"Are you insane?!" I yelled at her over the loud gusting wind.

"CAREFUL WITH MY SHIP!" Yari-4 bellowed as much as his voicebox allowed him to.

She merely looked back revving her engine, almost burning Yari to a crisp. She smiled wickedly as her helmet began to materialized around her head. She gave a quick kick to the ground and she was off and out the door of the ship thousands of feet above the ground, leaving black burn marks on the metal floor.

Yari merely looked at me in confusion, as if he was still registering what had just happened. He got up seething. He grabbed his helm from one of the hooks on the wall.

"Oooohhh she's gunna get it now," he muttered walking toward the edge of the ship. "Captain, permission to open friendly fire?"

"Wait, Yari. Remember who the ene-," I tried to reason with him, but he barely let me talk before he slipped out off the edge.

Damn it. Why even ask if you're hell bent on doing whatever the hell you pleased? I put down my hood. Honestly it's a little too big to have up in combat. Taniks had too big of a noggin, but amazing fashion sense. The ship begins to change it's course. _Time to go to work._ I blink my way out the ship and begin my descent. I look toward the Core of the City. _Hello Darkness._ Columns of smoke rising toward the Traveler across the inner City. Various ships coming in and out dropping off FOTC troops. I gritted my teeth. The gravity of the situation finally dawning on me.

 _Gotta clean this mess up quick, gotta kill Oryx._ I muttered to myself. The wind feels nice against my skin, unlike my dear comrades I think I'll keep my helmet off. Rare is the chance to fight without it, especially knowing the enemy is still using iron swords and bows.

 _I'll show them what_ real _archery is all about_ I thought grinning to myself.

As I'm free falling hundred of meters through the air I try to search for my allies.

Finally I spot the giant solar explosions a bit far down. _Hmm. Follow the yellow lit road._ Heh.

The Last City: Inner Red Zone

What is that horrid sound?" Count Colt Formal asked his 2nd in command. Dressed in elaborated armor, in a deep brilliant blue with gold and silver lining the edges of each individual plate of metal. A helm following a similar fashion covering over his head leaving his face exposed. The helm had an eccentric shape that could only be described as the shape of a lion's head with it's jeweled eyes that would stare at you, fitting a man as eccentric as him.

The count has left his home to march into prospecting lands for the Empire. Land ready to be conquest in the name of the Emperor. He had been marching down this particular street for quite sometime along side his troops.

In the distance, a certain young wild Warlock was letting loose her inner goddess of war and a very pissed off metal man in hot pursuit.

"It comes from further down. It sounds like...eruptions? Sir! We might be standing on top of an active volcano!" Replied a now very concerned viscount.

The count thought for a moment, "It is said that in lands farthest from the Empire's capital that before a volcano erupts, the land quakes and moves violently enough to destroy buildings and crack open the very earth. Look around you my dear viscount! These buildings where I can not even see the top are made of glass and very thin comparatively. I doubt they would survive an eruption," the count said, trying to ease his subordinates mind. _Even so what could possibly be making that sound?_

Anything was possible after all. This is the new world that lied beyond the gate. Could it be a simple trick devised by the enemy? Could drum produce the terrifying sound in an effort to scare his forces? Could it be the product of a mage casting spells?

 _No, spells take time to make, not even that one famed mage could produce spells without spell chanting. No one is fast enough to recite chants in such a short amount of time either to produce these frequent bursts! Very similar, but vastly different to the popping sound created by the enemies weapons._

Count Formal looked up to the sky and beheld the Traveler, of course, being from another world the count did not know what she was. To him he only saw a very peculiar moon. Flying below that moon were the Empire's esteemed dragon riders. A smug smiled formed on the count's face.

"It seems that our reinforcement has arrived my dear viscount," he said looking back to the viscount. _No other nation has been able to truly tame the wyvern dragons enough to ride them. The sky is ours._

It has been concerning though, that he's been hearing strange sounds above him sometimes, but whenever he looks up whatever was there was already gone. _Perhaps it's too early to assert that earlier claim._

The count looked around himself. His troops completely surrounded him from both the rear and the front. Archers ready near the rear and his main forces ready to break through enemy lines in the front. They kept moving down the street and the large eruptions became louder and louder as they approached.

"Odd isn't it? That we haven't encountered any resistance? From the people or any military force?" asked the viscount.

"Yes, we're already so many leagues into enemy territory, but I haven't seen a single soul. Nothing more than a few corpses of commoners near the entrance of the gate," pondered Count Formal. Could the enemy have known? _I feel uneasy._

Down the Street

Anyone who didn't know Esfira and Yari-4 would think that they were in complete synchrony, the nimble Warlock floofing side to side unleashing solar explosions, while the mighty Titan striking the enemy next to her with his mighty Hammer of Sol.

For anyone who _did_ know who they were in was painfully obvious this was another cat and dog chase between the Exo and the Awoken. As vastly different as they are in appearance, they act more like brother and sister than actual brothers and sisters.

It was also obvious that Yari-4 has still not gained complete mastery over the Hammer.

"That's good, Yari! Keep striking, we got them on the run!" The Warlock said into her comms to her fellow "comrade." The Warlock left devastation in her wake. The enemy had formed into a nice little tight formation. Neat orderly blocks of soldiers. They are not use to the modern urban warfare of today's time.

A Few Moments Earlier

She broke through their line...or well...flyed through their defenses. She came at them so quickly on her sparrow than no archer could land a single hit on her. As soon as she came face to face to the shielded vanguard she jumped into the air, letting her sparrow make use of the momentum and let it ram through foreign foot soldiers breaking their formation of defense. The soldiers in their confusion stood against what they believed to be a quick mounting bull and began to hit the sparrow with maces and hammers and stabbed and slashed at it with lances and swords as it went through neatly formed lines of soldiers.

Fortunately, or better yet unfortunately for the other worldly soldiers, they did not know what happens to a sparrow that receives too much damage and believed they had taken down the "beast" as soon as it stopped moving. _Boom!_

Esfira looked back. "Forgive me street cleaners, I just gave you a lot of work."

"I'm going to be issuing an apology too after I'm done with _you!"_ roared Yari-4 still hot on her tail.

Yari-4 was usually a very agreeable person. He was much more easy to talk to than the silent cryptic Warlock that was usually in his company or the Hunter that also hung around him. Not to say the Hunter, his captain, wasn't also easy to talk to, it's just that sometimes he gets too claustrophobic around people. A trait many Hunters share, but I guess that's what makes a Guardian choose the path of a Hunter. It's best to leave the captain to his own devices unless it's absolutely necessary.

Regardless, Yari-4 was overall the most "normal" one in the fireteam, so it was odd to see someone like him swinging hammers composed of pure energy at his own teammate, seemingly engulfed in the fires of rage.

"STAY. FUCKING. STILL," it was a sight to behold. Yari-4 was covered head to toe in golden armor that reminisced of an ancient Egyptian god. His helm went back beyond his head giving the impression of horns of a bull.

"Oh Yari, if you're target is me you better improve that aim of yours, seems all that time spent in the Crucible was for nothing," Esfira taunted. She looked back and gave her signature wicked smile. Yari-4 of course couldn't see it behind her avian shaped helm, but he knew and that only enraged him more.

She of course enjoyed every moment of it and continued on her path of destruction, obliterating every enemy in her path. Be it Human, Ogre or Goblins. _Ours are scarier._ She hummed to herself wickedly.

The enemy cried and wailed in protest and for mercy, but Esfira was deaf to the pleas of the enemy out of anger and Yari out of... well Yari wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings so he didn't even notice the Roman wannabes around him.

A single foolish soldiers rushed towards Yari-4 with his sword. He saw the destruction created by what he believed to be a witch, based on her figure. His friends were burned and torched to a crisp. His comrades in arms surround him as nothing more than charred bodies. He seeked his commanding officer for orders, but he couldn't find him. That is, until he saw a glowing red sword finally cool down. Engraved on the sword was his commanding officer's initials placed right next to blackened body, indistinguishable from the others. Even the mighty ogres that stood twice as tall as any man were nothing but tinder to fuel the flames of the witch's magic. And when he saw her comrade behind her creating that maddening exploding sound, he snapped.

" _To hell with reason! Emroy! Bless me with strength and grant me the power to reap vengeance! Aaaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh!"_ He raged in his native tongue and lunged toward the Titan. In his rage, he paid no attention to the fact that his target was seemingly well armored in what could presumably be very expensive armor and that his enemy was a good head or two taller than him. All of that didn't matter. The enemy was too busy focusing on his ally. The young soldier will take down this behemoth and avenge his comrades.

That was the last thought that went through his head. A mind full of vengeance. Vengeance that will never be his. Instead the iron sword merely glanced off the Titan's armor. Yari-4 looked towards the young man and grabbed his head.

" _Out of my way!"_ Yari-4 yelled as he sent the young soldier flying to the side and into a concrete building. It was a quick death, the soldier hardly had time to register what had just happened. Thanks to Yari-4's ability to grant mercy.

Currently

She continued to throw grenade after grenade of solar energy that left miniature suns in their wake as she raced overhead through their ranks. Whatever was still kicking was, inadvertently taken care of by Yari-4's Hammers. With the combined forces of pure Solar energy, strengthened by the proximity of the Traveler's Light that entire street was decisively cut off. The solar flares of the Warlock's solar grenade and the Hammer of Sol from the Titan continued to burn where they struck long after their normal expiration time.

"Nolan, give me the Supremacy," I said outloud.

"Which one?" Nolan asked.

"Clown cartridge."

A slender weapon formed in my hand. Heavy and with a violet color scheme. On the side painted in a golden yellow was the emblem of the Queen of the Reef. All I had to do to get it was kill a few imprisoned Fallen.

As of right now I'm setting up shop on top of a nearby high rise. A good vantage point that allows me to keep an eye on my teammates below as they continued down the street. The wind continued to whip through my hair. _Mmm good breeze._ I peer down into my scope and behold the tomfoolery that is my fireteam. The entire street was lit up with solar grenades and Hammer of Sol Sunspots, which showed no effort in relenting.

"N... Nolan, patch me in with those bastards," What the hell are these idiots doing?

"Alright then," Nolan replied, "you're in."

"Ahem, to all Morningstar personnel to whom it may concern, _please do show constraint in not destroying the very City we are trying to_ _ **protect!"**_

That stopped them right in their tracks. They looked behind them and saw what they had done to the street. Whoops.

Some of the earlier solar flares and Sunspots had begun to die out, but a lot of them were still burning as brightly and intensely as the moment they brought them into existence. All in all, it looked they brought the fiery pits of hell onto the surface.

"You guys practically single handedly melted an entire _street,"_ I rubbed the bridge of his nose, "how am I going to explain this to everyone?"

"Sometimes collateral damage is unavoidable, captain, surely you understand?" Esfira replied cooly.

I couldn't believe what he was hearing over the comms.

"No, no. This was completely avoidable. A few bullet holes in surrounding building could have easily been fixed by a bit of caulk and cement, _but you bastards decided to liquify an entire street just to take advantage of Traveler's Light._ Switch to your primary weapons. _Now."_

"Yes... Captain," Yari-4 replied rather meekly. He hated being scolded, but the capt. was right. They went a little... overboard. "Mattis, get me Atheon's Epilogue."

"Sir, with all due respect, why pick that bullet hose? _Sir!"_ Mattis inquired.

"Precisely because it's a bullet hose. We don't need much power in penetrating their armor," Yari-4 replied.

"Sir, ahhh I see! Very well! _Sir!"_ Mattis agreed.

In that moment Yari-4's ghost materialized a rather hefty assault rifle, bronze like the creatures used to make it with glowing red lights attached to it, not unlike the eyes of said creatures. Although nobody knew for certain, it's was most likely created by a certain legendary Titan. A Titan Yari-4 looked up to.

" _Sigh._ Very well Cam, I'll listen," the Warlock relented. "Cordelia, mind handing me Hard Light if you'd please?"

"Ask and you shall receive!" A cheerful voice responded. "Here ya go! You sure do like using that weapon a lot hmm? Wasn't this the capts gun?" Cordelia said teasingly.

At that Esfira smiled wickedly inside her helm, "but of course. This weapon is proof that the captains so called 'infinite luck' does indeed have an end. Any chance in using it is a chance to rub it in Cam's face!"

Hard Light was Cam's favorite weapon since it was Cam's very first _Exotic_ tier weapon which he 'won' in a random crucible match back when he was still a fledgling Guardian. He treated that thing like it was his baby. For a solid 6 months he only used that weapon as his primary weapon. He didn't even like auto rifles. Didn't matter to him, it was his first Exotic.

Annddd then he got a little too confident in a game of poker and lost it to Esfira. Much to the surprise of everyone at the table, even Esfira. Cam's luck was legendary, it made it difficult to gain more people to play against him down the line as everyone thought that playing against him was an automatic lost. Of course, the only ones willing to play against him now were other Hunters who were nothing if not stubborn and willing to rise to a challenge. To this very day, Cam still pesters Esfira for a rematch to win back his beloved Exotic rifle. And Esfira is too smart to agree to one.

On Top of Building

I look down my scope again to make sure everyone has followed through with my _advice._ And what do I see? Esfira holding my beloved, my first love. "Stupid bitch."

"What was that captain?"

Whoops.

For now the street Esfira and Cam were on was rather desolate. No thanks to that _wonderful_ show they gave. It seemed the foreign army was smart enough to stay away from the big bad booms.

Good enough for me. I had a clear view of a few streets over. A couple of FOTC troops were hiding around the corners and on top of rooftops the same as me raining down a hail of bullets on the unsuspecting enemy. _Idiots. I bet they're yelling and bitching about "no honor." Tough raisins, dicks._

I look down the scope of my rifle and find myself a couple of stranglers, "that's right, you better run _the devils on the loose,"_ I slide in another bullet into the chamber, " _better run through the jungle."_ A pink mist fills the void where the soldier's head was. His fellow soldier takes a glance back and stops dead in his tracks unable to comprehend the horror he's witnessing, " _and don't look back to see."_ Hmm that makes eight so far.

I turn my attention to the street my fireteam was occupying. They were still fixing their gear. Standard procedure, checking their pockets for mags, picking their secondary and loading up their heavies.

As I look through the glass I notice more troops coming their way. They followed standard formation, shields and lances in front, swords and horsemen second, who would usually break through the shields and engage the enemy, and archers third in the back. From then in the middle I would guess the battle commander and his advisors were placed, based on their nicer armor. The commander would usually be in surrounded on all sides by more foot soldiers. Behind him were even more soldiers, but following the opposite order of specialized soldiers than that of the front.

Of course not all enemy detachments followed the same rule. The one's who usually broke this pattern were the "monster" forces who were just a pain in the ass, at least, for the FOTC. Jumping from side to side, charging in recklessly, it was hard for the common FOTC soldier to follow, they weren't use to unpredictable enemies. Mostly because many of them have never fought beyond the walls.

But for the rare few like the Takanome's Rangers, this was what they were trained for, directly under the hand of a Guardian. Named after the famed Ayane Takanome, a famed mortal woman who helped secure roads and passages that led to the Traveler with the help of her rangers. She helped defend refugees and practically did what the Guardians do today. Once the Guardians rose in numbers they took up the responsibility of the Takanome's Rangers. The City honors her and her rangers by naming their most elite non-Guardian soldiers the Takanome's Rangers.

Those deemed fit to be a Ranger are assigned an active duty Guardian to follow into patrols or missions. To be a Ranger you must: A) have completed normal FOTC training b) be the required age of 21 c) must have a larger than normal pool of Light. Everyone is born with Light, the Light could be argued to be our very souls, but to be a Ranger you must have at least as three times more light than the average person.

Of course this is very restricting as not everyone has three times the normal amount of a normal person, but it is possible to increase your Light through training and meditation. It's not always possible since you are perhaps literally increasing the size of your soul. You might not even know what exactly you're looking for when you're increasing your Light, but it has been done before. Still, three times more than the average is nowhere near the same amount of that of a Guardian, but it is the bare minimum when you're rolling with a Guardian on a mission. To be considered a full fledged Ranger, you must show that you are able to wield your Light as a weapon, the same as a Guardian. Doesn't matter how or what element, but not many Rangers bother with the Void. Some have been able to create the Solar Grenades, or are able to envelope their hands in pure Arc energy. These are the true elites of the FOTC.

"Yari, Esfira, check your trackers, we got more troops coming down the street. Take them down the conventional way. I'll meet up with you guys in a minute."

"I hear you, we're moving up," Yari-4 acknowledged. "Esfira! We're moving up! You ready?"

Esfira was finishing oiling her machine gun and shining it's glowing skull head. "I think so, ready for round two?"

"Hmph, Captain, estimate numbers?" Yari-4 spoke into the comms.

"Hmmm, a good thousand I'd say perhaps a little more," came the static voice of the Hunter.

"Sigh, gotta earn our pay, right Cam?" Yari-4 joked.

"Tsk. That goes double for me, I've been benched for a week remember? I'm almost at your position, but please don't wait up," Cam joked back.

The enemy became clearer as they got closer. Their blue armor became more visible as they marched forward. And then, they launched their attack against the two. A shower of arrows, all heading toward the legendary immortal Guardians.


	4. Chapter 4 I beg you not to break stuff

Chapter 4

 **Hey. It's been a while. almost Turkey day huh? so...how was your Festiv... I mean Halloween? No Festival this year. Maybe next time. Why was this chapter so late? I tried to make it so there weren't so many inconsistencies or places where you'd need to give in to suspense of belief. If you find any consistenciesssssshutup. Also I'm a lazy bum. But you knew that. This chapter was definitely going to end up longer, but I told myself "no don't do that". So I didn't. I might release some other works. Definitely centered around this universe, introduce some new characters. Funny short side stories and the like. They might also peek into the future... Tell me if that's something you'd like to see. Spoilers? sorta? Like always Destiny is not my property, I'm just "borrowing" some of it's content. Please leave a review telling me how much of an "adequate!" writer I am. Or sub par.**

The arrows barely left their bows before they were intercepted by Esfira's solar grenades, incinerating the shafts and melting the iron tips, turning them into molten rain drops as they fell painfully on the enemy vanguard's forces, forcing yelps of pain and anguish to escape their lips. A good majority simply dropped like rag dolls as the molten drops sought their way through the enemies helmets and into their brains.

"By the Traveler Esfira was that even necessary?" Yari-4 asked in disbelief as he saw the enemy .

"Don't falter, Yari. They are the enemy," Esfira calmly stated through her comms.

"What did I _just_ fucking say," I yelled into the comms. "Weapons only unless absolutely necessary!"

"Forgive me, captain. I simply saw a shortcut and took it," Esfira apologized.

"Hhhrrrrr. Weapons free, weapons free! While they're still reeling!" I yelled back. The heat given off by the melted pavement was enough to make me put my helmet back on. _Just when I thought I was finally able to fight without._

"Saw our handy work?" Yari-4 asked as I was approaching on my sparrow, still focused on the enemy ahead. I wouldn't be able to tell if he was smiling or grinning regardless if he had his helmet on or off, but the fluctuations in his voice obviously gave off the sense that he was internally giving me a shit eating grin.

"You're going to help fix that. What the hell," I stated flatly. "The both of you."

Silence was the only answer they gave.

"What just happened?!" yelled the count. His army was being slaughtered right in front of him.

His army had just reached a large street intersection when they finally made contact with the enemy. Only two enemy combatants stood in their way, pitiful.

It wasn't until they finally made their move. Not archers, shieldbearers, foot soldiers or the knights under his command could have reached the enemy before being cut down by the enemy's strange murderous magic which seemed to penetrate anything put before it.

The count nearly went blind when he looked up and saw a brightness that shone brighter than the sun. He was still rubbing his eyes when he started hearing the screaming pleas of his archers or anyone else who had the unpleasant luck to be in the blast zone, asking anyone who was still standing to kill them and end their suffering.

"What... what did you do to my men?!" Count Formal cursed to his adversaries.

They merely responded by casting more of that infernal magic. The Count was a smart man. He knew he could have had the upper hand if he simply charged earlier, and overwhelmed the opposition. It was too late for that. How could he have known? How could anyone waste a charge on only two people? His ability to think was overwhelmed by his own arrogance. Of course the enemy wouldn't have sent two individuals by themselves, only if it was a trap... or the enemy was simply that capable.

In the end he found out the answer the hard way.

"What now my lord?!" the viscount asked, panic setting in his voice as the men around him fell like puppets whose strings were cut mid act. "Over a third our men are dead and everyone else is either on their way out or blind!"

This is true, he missed his chance and his men are paying for it.

"Retreat! Back to the Gate! Retreat!" Count Formal ordered.

"Everyone retreat! Orders from the Count! Hurry! Move out of the way now!" the viscount ordered as he fled behind the Count as he cut his way through his men.

"Retreat! Retreat! Hurry back!" the cries of the soldiers still standing yelled to each other.

"Help me!"

"Please kill me, anyone!"

"Ahh, the pain is unbearable, please anyone, just cut me down!"

"I can't see! I can't see!"

"Get up! Get up! They're on our tail!"

" _I can't get up!_ I just can't!"

 _Forgive me my men!_ The count thought to himself. He can only hope the rest of his men are still following him. His small forces, fitting of a small nation state like his, was only a few thousand strong. His men of only 1,500 has now been reduced to few hundred in a little less than 10 minutes.

The rest were being handled by his sons. _His sons!_ Turn back, too! Please! My sons!

As horrible as it sounds he couldn't stop to think about his son's' safety when his own was in jeopardy. The enemy was unrelenting still cut his men down.

 _Faster you damn horse! Faster!_

In that moment he felt his horse beginning to fall and the count was flung forward on to the strange black stoned road. His armor saved him from being skinned, but the fall was still nonetheless very painful. His men continued to rush past him.

 **Further back**

"Hehe, armor piercing rounds," I said smugly.

"You shot the horseys," Esfira pouted.

"Horseys?"

 **Further up**

"You fools! Help me up!" He ordered as the rest of his men continued to run past him. Finally two of his soldiers stopped to lend a hand to their injured lord. The count tried to stand on his legs, but as soon as he pushed down with his left foot a sharp pain ran all the way up to his spine. _Damn! I twisted my ankle!_

He looked back and saw the horse of the viscount was struck in a similar fashion and the viscount... well necks certainly don't bend that way.

"Keep moving!"

His words were not able to reach his men. The loud popping sounds of the oppositions infernal weapons began anew. The men that were far ahead began dropping to the ground as if the god of death had come to collect his dues early.

"What? The enemy! Search for the enemy!" the count ordered.

My Lord, they're on the roo-!" At that moment a stray bullet found its way to the poor scouts skull, cracking it open, allowing his now liquified brain to spill out on the paved street.

"Damn it all! Archers raise your weapons! Fire back!" The count yelled, trying to issue his commands over the loud booming sounds raining down from above.

"Sir, there are no archers! There is no one!" yelled a foot soldier.

 _By the gods, what have we gotten ourselves into?_ It was too late to think at this point, he must forward. He must!

"Keep marching toward the gate! Don't look back!" the count ordered in vain. His men didn't need an order for them to march themselves back, but the count's right arm began to feel heavy.

"Soldier, You're leaning on me! Get your lord back... to... safety...?"

The count looked to his right and saw the pale face of the footsoldier, eyes rolling backwards with his hand clutching his chest beginning to slump as the count tried his best to keep him upright.

"It's no use my lord, he's too fargone. I can still walk so do your best to lean on me!" the soldier on his left said. Count Formal was no fool, he understood why this young lad was willing to go so far for him. He was not a bad Lord perse, but the count saw how his men had left him there, injured on the ground.

"Heh! You're a clever one aren't you? If you get me back through the gate I'll grant you peerage and land!" the shrewd Lord Formal declared.

That got the young lad motivated.

"Thank you my lord!" the young soldier had a fire lit beneath his legs, pushing forward with zeal. He was going to make it, he was going to get the promotion of the ages and he was going to bring his family out of the wretched clutch of poverty. He was going to be a hero! The knight who gallantly risked his life to save his lord! He was going to be!

Nothing more than a stain on the floor.

There was a bright light that struck between him and Count Formal. In fact, he didn't even remember being blown halfway across the street. He didn't remember how was it that he was looking up, towards a giant moon that looked like it was used as the plaything of an Ancient Dragon.

The lad tried to get up, but was unable to. _How odd, I don't feel any pain. What's the... oh._ The young soldier gathered all the strength he could muster to sit up. Which was an impossible task since he saw that his rear end was somewhat a bit further than he recalled having it. It seemed to be that he no longer had the necessary parts to sit on.

Count Formal was dead. No final intelligent thoughts. No last minute prayers for the god of death and war to claim him. He felt the searing pain in his eyes, his arm, his torso in but a second. And then nothing.

The lad looked at what remained of the good count and cried. Not for the lord or for himself, but for the missed opportunity of wealth. His family will never hear from him again. He will die here. In an unfamiliar land, alien to him. He looked around himself one last time. He saw his fellow soldiers being rounded up, presumably being taken as prisoners of war. They will most likely interrogated, tortured and then killed. The soldier allowed himself a smile. _I'm dying and I can't feel anything. I guess this is the best outcome for the current situation._

He gazed as his fellow soldiers were told to get on their knees with their hands behind their head. And then he saw them. Three of them. They stood out from the other soldiers, who were dressed in green. These ones had a certain... regality to them. Especially the one in pure gold, with the helm of the shape of a bull. Ah, he was spotted, the one with chainmail sleeves and embroidered robes pointed to him. He could tell that this one was a woman, her robes were unable to mask her feminine features. She took a step forward and she young lad had thought his dying mind was playing tricks on him, but she reappeared.

Right in front of him.

He looked closely at her helmet which completely hid her face, such a strange design, like that of a bird. He robes were also of such fine quality. A mage perhaps? She began to perch herself up next to him. He couldn't move. He saw what she was capable of. He saw her rain down a burning inferno upon his fellow men. He felt no pain, but even so fear crept within him. She reached for her helmet and took it off.

He didn't comprehend was he was seeing. He was so captivated by her, that he didn't even notice that the men in green were taking his legs away and were beginning to work on his ripped upper half. Her skin was blue with wisps of ethereal white fog shifting beneath it, her eyes were a brilliant purple, almost if they themselves radiated light, not reflect it. Her face was delicate, with high cheekbones giving her an angelically beautiful face. It was as if he was staring at a goddess.

She held a finger up and reached for something in the air, and in a dull light came a canteen. But of course, she was a mage. She grabbed his head and lifted it toward the opening of the small jug. He realized how much his throat was dry. _Ah and in my last hour a goddess appears and quenches my thirst._ He drank greedily from the canteen and looks up to see the goddess' face distorted in a face of worry. _Ah, my goddess that face does not suit your delicate face._ How could such a beautiful creature be capable of so much destruction?Majestic griffons, unicorns, and now her. The gods have such twisted sense of humor to bestow their most enchanting creatures with such incomprehensible powers.

It mattered not. He felt his time coming. His eyelids got heavier and heavier. Right before he closed his eyes for what seemed to be for the last time, he gazed upon her, and on her face she wore a mischievous smile.

* * *

"Seems like the drugs have taken effect," the young field medic sighed, "it was a good thing his heart was already slow or he would have bled out by now. Strange, you would think being in the middle of a war would have spiked his heart rate, well for now as long as we have his body in the cooler I think he'll be fine. Perhaps." She finished with doubt seeping into her words.

The medic team with her quickly removed the gate soldier taking him to a nearby hospital. Only time will tell if all the Speaker's men can put that poor boy back together again.

"Thank you, miss medic," Esfira, "odd how these things can go. For some, just the sheer shock is enough to send them to the next life. You did a wonderful job."

"Oh it was nothing! Like I said I don't know if he's going to survive... I hardly feel like I did anything!" the field medic shook her hand, waving away the praises directed to her.

Esfira stood up and reached out her hand, "Esfira Tatsiana of the Warlock Order. You can call me Esfira."

"Oh! Mari Kurokawa! At your service! You can call me anything!"

"Very well then, Kurokawa-san. Did I say that correctly?"

"Oh yes, but that's the sort of traditional way of saying it, from before the Collapse. Oh, but you are a Guardian, so I guess..."

"Oh no! I'm very young compared to most veteran Guardians, but my age excuse me, will remain a secret," Esfira said with a slight smile.

"Oh I understand all about a woman's secret," Kurokawa returned with a smile.

Kurokawa stood up and looked upon the bloody field they stood on. It was a hard sight to behold. Some men were completely unrecognizable, occasionally you'd see a giant chunk of flesh which was the only indicator that this foreign army consisted of mixed races of creatures.

I came up behind Esfira, " what happened to 'spare no mercy, they are the enemy!'?"

Esfira looked to me, "Did you not see? He was but a child, desperately clinging to his life. Even I'd feel terrible if I didn't do anything."

"Well, at least you came back to your senses," I muttered under my breath.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing," I said.

"Hey everyone! Radio update! The gates been cut off, but we still got a bunch of bastards on this side running around! We got clean up!" Yari-4 announced to everyone in earshot.

"Party's not over," I said, "medic! You're going to be needed, regroup with your unit. We're going to have a lot more injured up ahead."

"Yes sir," Kurokawa saluted.

"Don't need to be so formal, now," I sighed, " if only we weren't dealing with _him_ , we would've been able to handle this..."

"Who's 'him'?" Kurokawa asked.

"Uhh, fireteam! It's no good if we all stick together here, we'll need to split up. I'll be heading down this street on our right. You two figure it out yourselves!" I transmatted my Sparrow and kicked off, leaving Yari and Esfira in dust.

"He just does whatever likes doesn't he? True enough though, I'll head out and go here on the left. You seem cozy enough here, stick with them if you'd like," Yari-4 said.

Esfira merely raised her brow and smiled. She gave a quick hand motion to shoo him off.

"Feh, well alright then," Yari-4 muttered.

* * *

The lone ranger returned back to the battlefield, against his better judgement. After escorting the people back to safety he was out here, looking for survivors.

He was the only thing standing in the way of the large creature and his next meal, a little girl no older than 7. She cowered behind him clutching his pants and burrowed her face into his leg.

"It'll be alright," He whispered to her, " I promise."

" _If you will not move human, then I will make you the main course and the little one, ehehe,"_ the ogre smacked his blood crusted lips greedily and smashed his wooden oversized club on the ground, " _will be dessert! It makes no difference to me I have not yet had my fill!"_

"What a pain," he muttered to himself. "Ah, you! Please put your hands in the air! You are under arrest! If you refuse to surrender I will shoot. Look! You! Hands! Up? You see? Up like this! YOU!" Itami tried to mime his way out of it, but to no use. The ogres friends, while Itami was trying to illustrate the proper form of turning yourself in came up behind their large compatriot. Ugly creatures, small and wicked. They were all armed with a similar club like weapon like the ogre.

" _Why wait? Let's just go smash their brains in!"_ One of the goblins said.

" _Stop, this is my lunch you vermins!"_ The ogre yelled, but it was too late. All the goblins made a hectic rush for Itami. Crawling over one another to get to feist that laid ahead.

"That didn't work, cover your ears ok? This'll be very loud," he looked down to the girl and gave a reassuring smile. She nodded and covered her ears and he opened fire.

The ogre who was in the middle of smashing in some of the goblin's heads looked up in shock. The fire bursts were short and precise. Itami made sure that every bullet counted. The goblins were tripping over their fallen brothers and Itami wasted no time in making sure they weren't separated from each other for too long.

" _What the? Magic! Stupid mage! I'll pick my teeth with your bones!"_ The ogre roared and charged as fast as he could.

But the ogre gained too much momentum and slipped on goblin entrains, and face planted right at the feet of Itami.

"Eek!" Shouted the little girl.

Itami looked down and smiled, "sorry, should have raised your hands like I told ya." and he fired, "aw this sucks, his speech mannerism rubbed off on me."

"See? Everythings fine right?" Itami looked down, but the girl did not look relieved. She stared forward with eyes full of fear and despair. He looked to where her eyes were fixated and it took him all he had not to yelp. They were far, but they were gaining ground on them. Even more goblins and ogres were coming down the road, with small furried creatures in their company wielding scimitars. They would have been cute and adorable, had it not been for the red and black splashes that contrasted against their dirty white fur.

"Oh, Traveler's wound!" Itami cursed. He was low on ammo and definitely wasn't going to go toe to toe against them with a little girl caught in the middle, "alight we gotta get a move on, I'll carry you, so don't move!" She merely gave a small nod, too scared to do anything else.

Itami lifted her into his arms and began running through a small alley, peeping his head out whenever he was switching streets. He met up with another group of survivors all running away from the encroaching foreign army.

He arrived back into the green zone. The FOTC has finally fully mobilized and has begun moving through out the red zone. Soldiers ran past him as he made it to a safety area.

He set the girl that he'd been carrying for so long down on her feet.

" _Sniff_ , thank you," she began teary eyed, "thank you." She looked around her surrounding. People were making calls and searching for loved ones all around her. She began to worry about her own family.

Itami sighed, but made sure that the young girl wouldn't notice. He wasn't accustomed to this, but he couldn't very well leave the girl alone to look for her family on her own.

"Hey, why don't we go look for your mom and dad? I bet they're very worried."

She looked up and nodded, "Thank you."

* * *

 **A week later**

Four. It took us four hours, start to finish. It took us around 45 minutes to stop the leakage. They were ready I gotta say. In that time, thousands of the bastards just poured through Gate, it was like waking up the Hive all over again. The dragons prove to be a bit of a nuisance, but we were able to swat them out in record time. The biggest problem was luring them away from the fleeing civilians and back into the red zone.

So far we've already moved the POWs to their new homes, A lot of them were whining about something, I assume it was about being mixed in with the nonhumans as a lot of them grimaced as they had to sit next to a goblin or an orc on the way to the prison. We're still in the middle of fixin' what has to be fixed. A lot of damage to streets, shops and building around the Core so that'll take a while. When it was time for me to collect on Esfira and Yari to fix up that street they melted, they had already gone off to who knows where. They did pitch in for the repairs though. So I guess I'll drop the matter for now.

The battle was rather dull. They weren't able to launch their siege weapons. The City's Hawks made sure of that. All they had were trebuchets and catapults yeah, but they would've done a lot more structural damage if they weren't taken care of. In the end it was just jumpships and Hawks that ended up plugging the gate. All they had to do was machine gun anything that popped out and switch with someone else for reloading. It was ridiculous.

There was also another matter to attend to. The casualties. Final count was 305 dead, 10 within the militia the rest were civilians. Another few hundred injured varying severity from minor bruises to full on loss of limbs. We haven't lost that many in a while, the Fallen Invasion is still fresh in the minds of the population. We did all that we could with what we knew, and it still wasn't enough to save everyone.

Right now they're holding a memorial, for everyone we lost. Processions like these make me feel physically tired. We erected a temporary altar, with all the names of the people lost. It's almost a little too hard to watch, as families clad in black stepped up slowly to leave bouquets of flowers at the photos of those they lost. Some of them couldn't take it. Some of them just fell. Their legs gave way and they just fell sobbing. I hated that. The quiet sobbing. As they tried their hardest to contain their emotion and just couldn't. The tears flowed softly for the next few days as more people learned of the fate of their loved ones. The worse thing I saw was a little boy accompanied by a frail old woman who stepped up by himself to leave a bouquet of flowers at the photos of his mother and father. He laid the bouquet right in between the photos. He then turned around, took two steps and turned back and bowed deeply. The city's people still hold on to the traditions of their ancestors. His family must've came from the east.

I took a moment to look through all the faces on the photos. The bouquets were all the same, white flowers of various varieties and a single blue flower in the middle. Right next to me was a mother holding onto her daughter's hand as they place a bouquet at the picture of a man.

"Was he your husband?" I asked. I was dressed in my civilian clothes, a black shirt, black pants and a black poncho just for the occasion. For the most part I've been able to keep my identity as a Guardian a secret to public.

I could tell the woman was crying a moment earlier. Her eyes were red and she was clutching a tissue. She nodded. "Yes, we all went out to shop, to celebrate my daughter's birthday when it all happened."

She began to sob quietly, " Everyone began to run and we were all *hic* separated. I saw as they chased him and they *hic* cut him down. The militia were able to drive them *hic* away, but it was already too late. I couldn't find *hic* my daughter and I thought the worse."

The girl hugged her mother as she was recounting her story. She leaned down and picked her up and held on to her tightly.

"An off duty militia soldier found her. Did you hear? About the Hero of the Peregrine District? It was by the Traveler he was there," she said softly.

"Is that so? It's good to hear that there are still brave souls among us," I said, "I'm...I'm sorry for your loss."

She nodded her head, "thank you, I appreciate the kind words."

I looked to young girl and reached out my hand and placed it gently on her head.

"That must've been scary for you, huh?"

She looked up to me and nodded her head slowly. It hurts you know? Knowing there was nothing you could have done. The stars just weren't aligned right.

I looked up to her mother, her eyes still red and puffed.

"I'll be on my way then," I said.

"Go with the Light," she replied.

I was heading back to the tower, until I was called out by a large man, dressed similarly like me, trying to hide his face and figure.

"Hey, yeah you," He called out to me. I recognize that grizzled voice.

"Lord Shaxx," I greeted standing besides him.

"What do you think of this, Hivebane?" Lord Shaxx inquired to me.

I took a deep breath, oh boy.

"We made due with what we had, everyone played their part and played it well. We alerted the people 30 minutes prior to contact, and it still wasn't enough. The FOTC militia did their best, but they weren't prepared for this," I finished, hoping that was the answer he was looking for. I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was thinking about what i just said.

"I have no problem with how General Hazama led the charge. He did everything as well as a man who has never experienced true war could have, and that's the _exact_ point I'm making. If we had Guardians at the ready down there, we wouldn't have had half as many casualties."

He paused, "but we only had 5 down there. What killed these innocent people wasn't the enemy, it was a lack of logistics. The FOTC has no experiences in warfare or evacuation."

He clenched his fist, "I brought this point up with the Consensus before. I told them that there will come a day that all hands will need to be on deck. Regular training will be necessary to help fill roles that Guardians wouldn't be able to focus on. That the FOTC that we have today was covering the bare minimum. They didn't want to spend the resources on it when Guardians were still available."

"The greatest thing to come out of the FOTC were the Rangers. Low success rate, but knowing that even the common man is able to wield the power of the Light is... inspiring. You trained a Ranger yourself didn't you, Hivebane? Yeah, I remember. You were gone for a while, the Crucible was a bit colder without your Light. What was his name again?" Lord Shaxx turned to me. His face still obscured to me.

"Itami. Itami Youji is his name. Spoken in the traditional way of his people. Family name first," I

Answered. I haven't spoken to him in a few weeks. Wonder where he's at?

"Itami Youji, huh?" I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was grinning ear to ear.

"The disciple of the great Hivebane, Godslayer. I'll have to keep my eyes out for that one," he mused.

"Itami Youji," he trailed off.


End file.
